A known load measuring block generally of the type referred to above is armed with Pressductor® transducers manufactured and marketed by ABB AB. These transducers operate with a measurement principle based on the magneto-elastic effect in which the magnetic properties of a material are influenced by the mechanical force applied to it.
There are a number of load cell configurations and several standard sizes, which are used primarily for roll force measurement in rolling mills, such as circular for installation under the mill screws or hydraulic actuators, rectangular for installation under the lower backup roll chock or annular for installation between the mill stand and nut.
Earlier, such load cells have also been used for measuring the load applied under operation to bearings supporting a shaft. It has been considered sufficient just to place the load cell or plate under the foot of the bearing housing. A load cell has thus been chosen, preferably of rectangular configuration and of a size big enough to allow the foot of the bearing housing to be positioned well inside the outer edges of the load cell.
With bearing housings having a substantially planar outer contour, it has been believed that this combination of a bearing housing foot resting well inside the edges of a load measuring plate, which has a bigger planar contact area against the base than the contact area between load measuring plate and the bearing housing, will give a satisfactory measuring result.
However, in modern bearing technology, the bearing housings have often been designed with a foot member, which has a number of recesses or cavities opening in a direction away from the bearing seat, i.e. downwards. This design reduces the weight of the bearing housing. In addition, though, the almost shell-like outer contour of the foot part of the bearing housing has become weakened. There is thus a risk for deformation under influence of high loads, and for that reason the outer walls of the bearing housing foot have been made more stiff by providing reinforcing transverse intermediate walls.
This design means that the earlier used combination of standard load measuring plates and a bearing housing, which has outer contours smaller than that of the load measuring plate, will give a non-secure and unsatisfactory measuring result, as the wall portions of the bearing housing foot contacting the surface of the load measuring plate will be randomly distributed over the load measuring plate, with a measurement result which might be incorrect.